Nut-gatherer



F. RADENIACHER.

NUT GATHEREH.

APPLICATION FILED ocT. I5. 1919.

Patented May 17, 1921.

UNrrED sfia'i'iss FRANKv RADEMACHER, OF ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA.

NUT-Gunmen.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application inea october 15, 191e. serial No. 330,699.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRANK RADEMACHER, a citizen of the United States,residin at Ontario, in the county ,of San Bernar( ino Aand State ofCalifornia, have inventednew mitted to drop into a sack or othercontainer, and has for its object to provide a device of this characterwhich can be readily moved over the surface of the ground or fioor andwill operate in a. most effective manner to pick up the nuts.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a nut harvesting machineof this character which is comparatively simple and inexpensive in itsconstruction, which will accommodate itself to slight inequalities inthe surface of the ground and enable all of the nuts to be picked upWithout difficulty, and which will gather the nuts in a quick andeffective manner, thereby avoiding the expensive and laborious processof picking up the nuts from the ground by hand.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certainnovel combinations, arrangements and associations of the parts, as willmore fully ap )ear as the description proceeds, the novel eaturcsthereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to thefollowing description landaccompanying drawings in which: I

Figure 1 is a longitudinal c through a nut harvesting machineconstructed in accordance wit the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof with portions of the endless beltbroken away;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the discharge end of thehopper, showing the manner in which a sack can be supported to receivethe nuts from the hopper when the slide at the bottom thereof isremoved;

j Fig. 4 is a detail view of the adjustable bearings for the rollerswhich support the endless belt;

Fi 5` is a detail fragmentary view of the elute .connection between thedriving sectional View mechanism and the upper roller of the endlessIbeIt, and,

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing the pivotal connection betweenl the pickup bar and the lower end of the inclined frame.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and in all of the views of the drawings by like referencecharacters. j

Referring to the drawing, which illustrates one possible embodiment ofthe invention, the numeral 1 designates an axle upon which the two mainsupportingl wheels 2 are journaled said wheels having sprockets 3rigidly applied to the inner faces thereof. Bearings 4 are loose uponthe opposite end portions of the axlel at points adjacent the wheels 2and these bearings carry side plates 5 which are connected by a crossbar 6. The transverse middle portion of an inclined apron A rests uponthis cross bai' 6, the lower edge of the apron being provided with atoothed pick-up bar 7A which is adapted to travel over` the surface ofthe ground or Hoor and assist the conveyer in engaging the nuts B andguiding them into Patented May 17,1921..

position upon the apron to be carried upare adapted to travel over thesurface ofthe ground and maintain the toothed bai' at all times in aclose relation to the ground` while it swings up and down as may benecessary to adjust itself to the surface of the ground.

Mounted over the apron A and in a p arallel relation thereto is anendless conveyer belt 16 which passes around an upper roller 17 andlower roller 18. This endless belt may be of any suitable constructionand carries a series of transversely extending sweeping elements such asthe brushes 19.

lThe lower roller 18 and the upper roller 17 are supported by means ofswinging arms 21 which extend upwardly from the ends of the a ron A andat opposite sides thereof. hese swinging arms 21 are each provided yattheir pivot end with a toothed 'leasing the tension upon the bolts 23.The

swingmg arms 21 are each provided with vslots 22- so that the rollers 18and. 17 may be 'ournaled thereto. v

IJt is obvious that by moving the swingin arms 21 holdin the lowerroller 18 the en less belt 16 wil be raised and lowered from the groundand likewise by adjusting the swinging arms 21 holding the upper roller17 the belt will likewise be raised or lowered. This therefore providesa positive arran ement whereby adjustment can be speedily made,correspondingto the size of the object to be picked up from the ground,whether it be walnuts or other objects, and allows an adjustment for thebrushes 19 passing over the foraminous screen 10. v

Thetrunnions 24 of the upper `roller 17 are provided at their ends withdisks 33 which have pawl and ratchet connections 34 with a sprocketwheel 35. These sprocket wheels 35 are connected by chains 36 to thesprocket wheels 3 of the main wheels 2 and t e pawl and ratchetconnections 34 are such that the disks 33 are locked with the sprocketWheels 35 when the device is moved forwardly, although they can turnindepend ently ofthe disks when the direction of rotation of thesprockets is reversed. This provides the proper differential arrangementbetween the driving connections at opposite sides of the frame forenabling the device to be turned. from side to side as may be necessarywhen it is in use.

As the device is advanced over the surface of the ground any nuts Binthe path of the device will be engaged by the brushes 19 of the endlesscarrier and conveyedfupwardly on the apron A. As indicated by Fig. 1,the transverse brush elements 19 of the endless conveyer may be properlyspaced apart so that the nuts will be held between adjacent brushelements as they are carried upwardly on the apron. The operativeportion of the apron is formed by the woven wire 11 which has al mesh ofsuch a size that dirt or foreign matter. which may have been gatheredwith the nuts will fall through openings as the nuts are being movedupwardly on the apron.

An inclined plane 37 extends downwardly from the -upper end of the apronand leads to the hopper 8 within which the nuts are deposited. Thishopper is in the form of an clon atedand transversely disposed trough.

The ottom of the hopper is inclined downwardly toward one end thereofwhere a discharge opning is provided, said discharge ripening ingnormally closed by a slide 38. ooks 39 may be arranged around thedischarge opening for engaging some container such as a sack S andsupporting the1 same in posltion to receive the nuts as they dropthrough the openin when the slide 38 is remove Any suita le handle 40may be applied to the frame 9 or 'other part of the machine forconvenience in movin the machin over the surface of the groun Themachine may be used for athering small objects such as walnuts rom theground or a ioor surface and will avoid the necessity of stooping overand picking up the nuts or other objects by hand. When so used in walnutgroves the cost of harvesting the nuts will be vmaterially reduced,since.

the nuts can be gathered more easily and more quickly than is possibleby hand.

While I have illustrated and described one particular embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that I do not restrict myself to theexact details of construction shown, but that various modifications andchanges can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letv ters Patent is: v

1. A machine for gathering nuts and like objects, including a wheeledsupport, an iny clined apron mounted upon the Wheeled support and formedwith a foraminous sheet, an endless conveyer belt mounted parallel'tothe apron for coperation therewith to engage the nuts and carry themupwardly on the apron, the foraminous sheet enabling foreign matter tobe separated from the nuts as they are carried upwardly thereon, and ahopper receiving the nuts from the inclined apron.

2. A machine for gathering nuts and like` objects, including a wheeledsupport, an inclined apron mounted thereon and provided with ianged sidebars, an endless conveyer belt mounted parallel to the apron andprovided with means for coperation therewith to engage the nuts andcarry them upwardly on the apron, arms pivotally connected to theflanged side bars of the apron, guide rollers supporting the conveyerbelt and journaled in the side arms,`and means for holding the arms indifferent angular positions to adjust the relation of the conveyer beltto the inclined apron.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence H. J. STEINEMANN, J CALVIN BROWN.A

